Gummed paper and method for making it



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United States Patent O GUMlVIED PAPER AND METHOD FOR MAKING IT Paul W. Herrlinger, Troy, Ohio, assignor to The Gummed Products Company, Troy, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application June 25, 1954, Serial No. 439,427

2 Claims. (Cl. 117-11) My invention relates to gummed sheet material and more particularly to the breaking of the glue to improve the atness of the sheets to thereby facilitate press feeding and performance.

The breaking of the glue on gummed paper has been a lstandard practice in the industry for many years. Basically, the practice has been the same in that the function of the breaking machine was to crack the gummed surface in a diagonal manner, the gummed surface being broken first in one direction and then in the opposite direction. Breaker knives or bars were provided for this purpose, vbeing diagonally disposed with respect to the direction of travel of the gummed web; and the gummed surface, after having passed over diagonal breakers, would run over a small rod revolving at the same surface speed as the material being treated. The rod was disposed at right angles to the direction of motion of the web, and its function was to take out Whatever curl might have been -caused by the breaker knives; and there was nobreaking whatever done by the revolving rod. l

The procedureoutlined` above, while ingeneral usage, has-never produced a fully satisfactory sheet. It has been my observation that the breaking done by the first breaker knife -is always much more pronounced than the breaking ldone by the second knife; and this creates a very undesirable tendency for the sheet to curl from corner-to-corner, which is commonly referred to in the industry as Va .breakerfcurlPIt is my belief that the reasonl forvtheirst break being more pronouncedthan the second is because the material comes to the rst knife with the glue in a continuous film and the first knife, acting to break the continuous film for the first time, displays a decidedly more pronounced break than does the second knife which is simply acting to further break, or break in a different direction, a gummed surface whi-ch has already been partially broken.

In accordance with the instant invention, I have found that if the glue is broken in three directions rather than just two by employing a horizontal breaker bar acting to break the sheet transversely prior to the diagonal breaker knives, a gummed sheet is produced which does not have the tendency to curl encountered in a sheet which has been broken only by means of diagonal breaker knives.

A principal object of my invention is, therefore, the provision of gummed sheets of extreme levelness as well as flatness, such sheets being particularly desirable for all types of printing and an absolute necessity for proper printing of gummed paper by off-set printing or lithography.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a gummed sheet in which the range of humidity conditions under which it will lie flat without curling is materially increased.

Yet a further object yof my invention is the provision of a procedure for breaking gummed sheets on webs Patented Dec. 3, 1957 which eliminates the initial diagonal breaker curl of the material.

Yet a further object of my invention is the provision of means for breaking a gummed surface in an expeditious 'and commercially feasible manner. l

Still a further object of my invention is to provide `a sheet of gummed paper or similar material which is free from the harshness of tinniness heretofore encountered in gummed sheets.

These and other objects of my invention which will appear hereinafter or which will be apparent to the skilled Worker in the art upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by that product and process for making it and by that apparatus of which I shall now describe an exemplary embodiment.

Referring now to the figures of the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a schematic plan view of a breaking machine in `accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a schematic elevational view of the device of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a Vertical sectional view taken along the line 3 3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional View taken along the line 4-4 of Figure l.

Figure 5 is a partial enlarged plan View characterizing a gummed surface broken in accordance with my invention.

Figure 6 is a magnified fragmentary view similar to Figure 5 further illustrating the breaking action which occurs in accordance with my invention.

In accordance with my invention, the glue surface is formed into a much ner breaking pattern than heretofore utilized, the squares of glue formed by the diagonal breaker knives being, in elfect, broken into triangular portions having one half the area of the squares. In breaking the glue surface it is important that the transverse breaking occurs prior to the diagonal phase; for if the horizontal break were to be effected after the diagonal breaking, the prominence of the initial break from the first diagonal knife would still be present and the so-called breaker curl will not be eliminated.

Referring iirst to Figures 5 and 6 of the drawings, I have therein diagrammatically illustrated a sheet of material 1 having a gummed surface 2 broken by the transverse lines of break 3 and the diagonal lines of breaks 4 and 5. The gummed surface is thus divided into a multiplicity of generally triangular glue areas 6. It Will be understood that the sheet of material 1 may comprise any type or grade of paper, inclusive of but not limited to English finish, supercalendered, machine coated lithograph paper, and highly specialized coated papers, or it may comprise, again without limitation, other gummed sheets such as fabrics, non-fibrous film and the like. Similarly, the type of gummed surface may be varied and the advantages obtained are equally obvious on dextrin, animal glue, mixtures of the two, or any adhesive coating suiciently hard in dried film form to be broken, and strong gummings, or on specially blended gummings.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, the reference numeral 7 represents an unwinding roller on which is mounted a roll 8 of gummed material with the gummed surface outermost, the material being fed from the roll as a continuous web 9. The unwinding roller 7 will be preferably provided with braking means 10 to control the unwinding speed of the web, as will be understood.

From the unwinding roller, the web of material is passed sequentially over the transverse breaker knife 11, a first diagonal breaker knife 12 and a second diagonal breaker knife 13, suitable tension rollers 14, l5, 16 and 17 being positioned between the breaker knives in the manner illustrated to assure proper contact of the web with the knives. After the web has passedbeyond the second breaker roll and the tension roll 17 itisfrewound on a rewind roller 18 which is normally a driven roller serving to unwind the roll 8 and move the web over the breaker knives. It will be understood that the embodiment illustrated is exemplary only and does not constitute a limitation upon my invention. In many instances, for example, the diagonal breaker knives are vertically disposed with respect to each other, the web of material moving in a generally vertical plane rather than in the generally horizontal plane illustrated.

The diagonal breaker knives 12 and 13 are mounted in stands 19 and 20, respectively, thestands being provided with adjustment screws 21 and lock nuts 22 for adjusting the knives and securing them in the desired adjusted position. However, in order to create uniform horizontal breaking of the gummed surface by means of the transverse breaker knife 11 in spite of the fact that there may be a baggy section in the center of the web or should it be tight on one side and baggy on the other, the breaker knife 11 is formed from exible steel and mounted so that it will offset the variations across the web. To this end, the knife 11 is mounted in a stand 23, as best seen in Figure 3, the knife being vertically movable in a slot 24 and backed up by springs 25 acting to flex the knife and maintain it in contact with the sheet throughout its width. By means of this arrangement the transverse breaker knife 11 will go and come with baggy areas across the sheet.

Gummed sheets broken in accordance with my invention have been found particularly suited for subsequent printing on a printing press. Heretofore extreme difficulty has been encountered in attempting to print gummed sheets because of the tendency of the sheets to curl and hence fail to lie flat. In accordance with my invention, extreme levelness of the gummed sheet is obtained and it has been found that the sheets will receive printing much easier than heretofore and will jog straight and accurately, and this is true irrespective of the type or grade of paper or other material employed, or the type of gumming used. These advantages are derived without disruption or disturbance of the internal structure of the sheet or of the printing surface; and the range of humidity conditions under which the gummed papers lies flat is materially increased. As a non-limiting example, a gummed sheet which will lie flat through a humidity range of 45-55% when broken in the ordinary way will lie iiat through a humidity range of -60% when broken in accordance with my invention. It will be understood, however, that the range will vary widely depending upon the type of sheet material employed as well as other factors; but in all cases, sheets broken in accordance with my invention will have a wider range than the same sheet broken in the conventional manner.

It will be obvious that modifications may be made in my invention without departing from the spirit of it. Having, however, described my invention in an exemplary embodiment, what I desire to secure and protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A gummed sheet having a smooth gummed surface broken and tensioned in three directions, a rst direction at right angles to the side edges of the sheet, a second direction on a diagonal with respect to the side edges of the sheet, and a third direction also on the diagonal and at substantially right angles to said second direction, said broken sheet being characterized by a rst direction break which is more pronounced than the second and third direction breaks, with the second and third direction breaks substantially equalized, the sheet displaying a marked tendency to remain free from curl under widely varied conditions of relative humidity.

2. A process of breaking an otherwise smooth and continuous gummed surface which comprises moving the surface to be broken in a path of travel and breaking the surface sequentially in three different directions by a series of breaker knives, a first direction at substantially right angles to the direction of motion of the surface, a second direction on a diagonal with respect to said direction of motion, and a third direction also on a diagonal with respect to the said direction of motion but at substantially right angles with respect to said second direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 890,570 McLaurin June 9, 1908 1,148,783 Knapstein Aug. 3, 1915 1,244,931 Wehrle Oct. 30, 1917 2,174,112 Sheedy Sept. 26, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 25,978 Great Britain 1901 373,343 Great Britain May 26, 1932 

1. A GUMMED SHEET HAVING A SMOOTH GUMMED SURFACE BROKEN AND TENSIONED IN THREE DIRECTIONS, A FIRST DIRECTION AT RIGHT ANGLES T0 THE SIDE EDGES OF THE SHEET, A SECOND DIRECTION ON A DIAGONAL WITH RESPECT TO THE SIDE EDGES OF THE SHEET, AND A THIRD DIRECTION ALSO ON THE DIAGONAL AND AT SUBSTANTIALLY RIGHT ANGLES TO SAID SECOND DIRECTION, SAID BROKEN SHEET BEING CHARACTERIZED BY A FIRST DIRECTION BREAK WHICH IS MORE PRONOUNCED THAN THE SECOND AND THIRD DIRECTION BREAKS, WITH THE SECOND AND THIRD DIRECTION BREAKS SUBSTANTIALLY EQUALIZED, THE SHEET DISPLAYING A MARKED TENDENCY A REMAIN FREE FROM CURL UNDER WIDELY VARIED CONDITIONS OF RELATIVE HUMIDITY. 